LulzSec calls it quits, claims 50 days of mayhem was all it wanted

After a 50 day campaign of mayhem that saw tens of thousands of e-mail …

Lulz Security, the group of hackers that have made a name for themselves with hacks of Sony, Nintendo, PBS, and more, claimed yesterday that it was calling it quits, with no more hacking or releases of stolen documents under the LulzSec name planned for the future. To celebrate the end of LulzSec, the group released final torrent of pilfered material: more documents and user credentials from a range of sources including AOL and AT&T.

The press release claims that LulzSec only planned to operate for fifty days, and hence that this decision to ditch the LulzSec name was not being made in response to the continued pressure the group is coming under from both law enforcement and other hacking groups. This claim is a little hard to reconcile with the release of documents stolen from the Arizona DPS that the group made on Friday. That publication was claimed to be the first of many, with more documents due to arrive on Monday, and subsequent documents on a weekly basis. If such releases are made, they won't be under the LulzSec brand.

The documents released on Friday were collected as part of "Operation Anti-Security", the name LulzSec has given to a bunch of attacks made on law enforcement and private security companies. In the press release announcing the retirement of the LulzSec name, the group expressed the hope that AntiSec would continue, and that security organizations would continue to come under attack. AntiSec was itself somewhat contradictory: LulzSec always maintained that it was motivated by amusement rather than political principles, and yet the decision to specifically make law enforcement agencies the target was an apparently political one.

These political motivations are also hard to reconcile with many of the releases the group has made; even the last torrent of information contained usernames and password hashes for gaming forums and the game Battlefield Heroes. As a result of that security breach, EA has taken Battlefield Heroes offline until the problem can be remedied. The torrent itself has been pulled by The Pirate Bay after it was found that the files taken from AT&T included malware.

One factor that may have encouraged LulzSec to retire its name and perhaps keep a lower profile is the continued efforts by the group's opponents to uncover the identities of those behind the LulzSec name and publish as much personal information about them as possible. A group calling itself The A-Team posted a substantial amount of data about members of LulzSec yesterday, and this release may have been the straw that broke the camel's back, forcing LulzSec to drop out of the public eye.

Though the LulzSec name may now be dead, former members are promising that its AntiSec mission will continue, albeit in a less centralized way.

I no longer believe anything or anybody on the internet web, and least of all LulzSec. I think Anonymous is likely pretty dangerous because they think that they're the Arbiters of Good and Evil. They haven't gone away. I think this is an ego-enterprise first and a criminal enterprise as a close second.

"Hey, I just stabbed a bear in the eye with a stick. Boy, was he angry! I'm going to stop poking bears in the eye and start hiding in the bushes, because that was my original plan anyhow."

More like "Hey, I just stabbed a bear in the eye with a stick. I was going to keep poking at it but it took a swipe at me. It hurt far more than I thought it would. I'm going to stop poking bears in the eye and start hiding in the bushes, because that was my original plan anyhow."

If I were them I'd wipe any piece of gear connected to the spree with a baseball bat, then fire and plenty of it.

Yeah but then how are they supposed to ask mommy and daddy for more money to buy them a new system? I destroyed my computer to keep people from finding illegal stuff is hardly a good enough reason.... Though with parents these days you never know.

"Hey, I just stabbed a bear in the eye with a stick. Boy, was he angry! I'm going to stop poking bears in the eye and start hiding in the bushes, because that was my original plan anyhow."

More like "Hey, I just stabbed a bear in the eye with a stick. I was going to keep poking at it but it took a swipe at me. It hurt far more than I thought it would. I'm going to stop poking bears in the eye and start hiding in the bushes, because that was my original plan anyhow."

It's obvious- since you weren't out there editorializing about how eeevil they are and how they are terrorists (only worse) and by reporting the news about what they did you were giving them free advertising for their propaganda, etc., you might as well be lulzsecnica.com now!

If I were them I'd wipe any piece of gear connected to the spree with a baseball bat, then fire and plenty of it.

Yeah but then how are they supposed to ask mommy and daddy for more money to buy them a new system? I destroyed my computer to keep people from finding illegal stuff is hardly a good enough reason.... Though with parents these days you never know.

If it was the law enforcement, they will consider that destruction of evidence.

The conspiracy crazies might actually have a point here (yes, I know, it puts me in their camp for a while)... (tinfoil on) this has given politicians and government agencies plenty of ammo as to why everyone needs "harsher laws" because of the "50 day reign of terror" that they were so defenseless with. If a bunch of teenage hackers could do that... think of the children! (tinfoil off)

If I were them I'd wipe any piece of gear connected to the spree with a baseball bat, then fire and plenty of it.

Yeah but then how are they supposed to ask mommy and daddy for more money to buy them a new system? I destroyed my computer to keep people from finding illegal stuff is hardly a good enough reason.... Though with parents these days you never know.

If it was the law enforcement, they will consider that destruction of evidence.

It's obvious- since you weren't out there editorializing about how eeevil they are and how they are terrorists (only worse) and by reporting the news about what they did you were giving them free advertising for their propaganda, etc., you might as well be lulzsecnica.com now!

So, tell us about these secret meetings you have, Chairman Pizza.

??? A good news reporter only talks about the facts, not opinion. Calling them names is opinion, nomatter what you think of them. some people think alittle bad brings good (better security) so people think they are just evil, so instead of starting a huge fight, Ars only stated the facts of what happened and what they did. do you really want them to go off on how evil they are so that they can fill up more of the page and talk about how they feel? I think they are doing a good job of staying neutral like news is suppose to be.

The conspiracy crazies might actually have a point here (yes, I know, it puts me in their camp for a while)... (tinfoil on) this has given politicians and government agencies plenty of ammo as to why everyone needs "harsher laws" because of the "50 day reign of terror" that they were so defenseless with. If a bunch of teenage hackers could do that... think of the children! (tinfoil off)

Oh, I'm sure they'll blow it out of proportion and try to use it to restrict freedom like they did with 9-11. But that doesn't mean LulzSec was the gov anymore than 9-11 was. It's just way more likely that it's exactly what it seems to be- an offshoot of Anon that decided to do a thing until that thing got too hot.

Well, while I don't think Ars is in anyway affiliated with Lulzsec I think Ars has been hyping up the Lulz story a bit too much. If ars and other media outlets had ignored Lulz in the first place then there would have been no Lulz to be had. IMO, basically over hyping and over covering their antics just reinforced their lulz. It's not funny when no one is there to hear the jokes. You need a captive audience and they certainly have gotten that from Ars writers.

Here's the thing: I actually SORT-OF had an appreciation for what they were doing originally because it was just for the lulz. Political / activist hacking is vigilantism by another name, and isn't any sort of justice. It is just a fancy way of making oneself judge, jury and executione, which is wrong by any measure.

Then they went political and I put them in the same bucket as anon and all the others out there.

Now we're supposed to believe that it was a "plan" and not the sound of the party van driving up the street that made them quit? Nope, I'm not buying it. As the old saying goes: "Its all fun and games until someone gets dox;d."

Sorry bout that, as I was supposed to say:@ULBut if there's no evidence how are they going to hang obstruction of justice on you?

@mltdwnBetter to buy new gear and be free than do time, have no gear, but have plenty of prison love.

Paper trail is a bitch. If the law enforcement follow the paper trail....it ll boil down to what happenned to your system and other equipment prior to the new purchase.

Better way....fry d hard disk. Leave it in the bin. If they ask about why d hard disk change...u tell them the old one died a natural death.

Not that I would advocate such a thing...* Have an old spare network card, so at the very least the MAC is different.* Wipe the drive with a government-level app, of which their are pleanty available. The key is to make sure the controller for the card lets you do real, multiple re-writes over sectors.

Of course, and this point once could run an entire computer off a memory stick and just burn that sucker up and no one would be the wiser...

The key here is to destroy only what is necessary and wouldn't be missed...and to do so in such a way as to ensure there is nothing even remotely fishy-looking.

If I were them I'd wipe any piece of gear connected to the spree with a baseball bat, then fire and plenty of it.

Yeah but then how are they supposed to ask mommy and daddy for more money to buy them a new system? I destroyed my computer to keep people from finding illegal stuff is hardly a good enough reason.... Though with parents these days you never know.

If it was the law enforcement, they will consider that destruction of evidence.

If you have not be served I don't know how they can punish you for getting rid of your system. You did not know you needed to keep it. You just sold it to someone for $50 cash and they have the system; you did it for cash so have no way to trace it an that is your story and stick to it.